Lawrence Lessig has recently shifted his focus away from intellectual property and technology policy and toward tackling the larger issue of political corruption.

It's quite obvious to me why he's shifted his focus. Lessig frequently speaks about corporate influence on the law in his work, and no doubt after years of reading policies constructed by politicians who represent competing special interests he's had enough.

I've seen the same thing the more I study policy, which is why I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Lessig that is corruption is rampant in Washington. I also agree with him that only a small portion of it is Blagojevich-style, blatantly quid pro quo corruption. It's more of a subtle corruption. It's the influence of industry, unions, GMOs—any group with cash and a constituency—that consumes nearly all politicians and most of the other political professionals in DC....

Barack Obama will be nominating Eric Holder, former Clinton Administration deputy attorney general, to become the nation's highest ranking law enforcement official. This has folks like me worried, as Holder has expressed some unsavory views when it comes to keeping our technology free.

Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae were the catalyst for our current financial crisis. By buying up risky sub-prime mortgages, Freddie & Fannie encouraged banks to make risky loans to folks who otherwise wouldn't have received mortgages.

Freddie & Fannie did this because they had the backing of the U.S. Treasury. The executives at Freddie/Fannie knew that if they made a bad move and lost billions in the market, the government would bail them out.

CNN has a great story about the successful auto companies in America, namely those that aren't named "GM," "Chrysler," or "Ford."

Turns out, folks who work at and live near the Honda engine plant in Anna, Ohio don't think the auto industry should get a bailout. Local waitress September Quinn is quoted in the story as saying:

I don't think they should bail them out because ... obviously something's not right in the way they're running their business, and why should the American people have to bail them out if they can't figure out how to do it right?

Quinn also had some insights into the problems that big labor unions have caused for the big three automakers. As the CNN...

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over media regulation, network neutrality, mergers, antitrust, trade, and a whole host of other issues that effect America's high technology industry. So what can we expect Henry Waxman to do as he takes the helm at Energy & Commerce in the House?

Waxman has been an outspoken proponent of the Universal Service Fund, a program riddled with waste and fraud. Though Waxman has tried to hold companies more accountable for the use of money from the fund—intended to help supply telephone service to people in rural areas—a better policy would be to eliminate it altogether. The notion that rural areas need to be wired with copper lines is outdated....